


The Greatest Mage and the Boy Who Lived

by SilverRosesAndDragons



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Watford (Simon Snow), World of Mages (Simon Snow), yes more characters will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRosesAndDragons/pseuds/SilverRosesAndDragons
Summary: A crossover where Harry Potter and Simon Snow grew up together and go to Watford together.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Simon Snow
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

####  **December 22, 1997**

It was Monday morning when there was a knock on the front door of the care home in Lancashire. Assuming it was the post, one of the staff ladies opened the door, but when she looked down, there was no paper on the stoop. There was a baby wrapped in a blanket, sleeping in one of those carrier baskets. He didn’t look like he was even a year old, and to be left right before Christmas. She felt bad for the little guy as she brought him inside and shouted for her supervisor. She noticed that there was something written on his arm. “Simon Snow.”

####  **November 1, 1998**

Petunia opened the door to find a man holding a dark-skinned baby. It was much too early on a Sunday morning for her to be disturbed. Before she got a chance to tell the man to go away, he spoke. “Ma’am, I am sorry to inform you that your sister and brother-in-law are dead. You are now responsible for the care and raising of your nephew, Harry Potter.” He handed her the baby and walked away before she got over her shock. She slammed the door and yelled for her husband.

####  **November 14, 2001**

Simon had been in the care home for as long as he could remember. He’d always known he was different from the other boys there, as they told him often. They stayed away from him when they could, and whenever he tried to play with them they were mean to him. So he wasn’t happy to be getting a new roommate, because that just meant a new person to defend himself against.

But when the new boy showed up, the four-year-olds felt instantly drawn to each other. There was something familiar about the new boy, something that felt right, like they were meant to stick together. So they did.

“Hi, I’m Harry Potter,” the boy said, walking up to him as soon as one of the staff brought him into the dorm room.

“Simon Snow,” he replied.

“Can I bunk with you?” Harry asked.

“Sure,” Simon said.

  
  


The other boys didn’t like Harry any more than they liked Simon, so they formed their own little group and avoided the others as much as possible. Even so, they quickly learned how to hit someone where it hurt and how to take a punch. Harry threw punches when he needed to, but preferred using words. Simon didn’t like words -- it made more sense to him to show how he was feeling -- so he let Harry speak for them both most of the time.


	2. Magic is Real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you're reading this, then theoretically the first chapter wasn't horrible. Yay! Thanks for reading.

####  **Simon**

I don’t remember last night very well, just flashes. It’s two weeks after our eleventh birthday -- well, Harry’s birthday, but no one knows exactly when my birthday is, so Harry said we could share his -- and all I really remember is anger and fear. I know I was angry because one of the older boys gave Harry a black eye yesterday -- they often pick on Harry when I’m not around because of his darker skin and because he’s not as quick to violence -- and even if it’s not there anymore, I don’t like it when someone hurts my friend. But then I woke up, and there was fear, because I was alone and in a strange place.

Now there’s a man here to talk to me and Harry. He’s tall, even when he’s sitting, and he’d dressed like Robinhood from one of the comics Harry reads. He keeps talking about mages and magic, and Harry and I are having a silent conversation as he talks.

“And you’re both mages, like me,” the strange man continues. 

Harry’s eyebrows say he doesn’t believe him, but I’m not sure. I tug on my hair to remind him of the time one of the staff ladies shaved his head when we were six and it grew back overnight. Harry nods slightly to agree that I have a point. To the man, it probably just looks like we’re fidgeting. Adults never think too much about the care home kids acting weird; they assume we’re all messed up in the head or something. They’re not exactly wrong: I can barely write and don’t talk much, and Harry says that when he tries to read “real books,” as the teachers call them, the words get all mixed up.

“So I would like to invite you both to attend my school, Watford School of Magics, this year,” the man says.

Harry blurts, “You’ll take us away from here?”

“I would like to, yes,” the man says.

I cross my arms and Harry, seeing that, speaks for us both again. “Prove it. That you can do magic.”

The man smiles. “Of course. **_Let there be light_** ,” he says, waving a stick of wood he pulled out of his pocket, and a glowing ball appears in the air. The ball of light floats between us, letting off sparks in all different colours. That’s what convinces me, and I finally start to get excited instead of suspicious.

####  **Harry**

The man, he said to call him “the Mage,” explains that there are conflicts in magical society, or “the World of Mages.” “There are some people, the Old Families, that think only they should be trusted with the knowledge of how to use magic, but I think that everyone blessed with the ability to use magic should be taught to control it,” he says. “There’s also a bad man out there, called the Insidious Humdrum, who wants to destroy magic. He gave you that scar, Harry, in the attack that killed your parents. People think you two will be essential to stopping him, because you were prophesied: the Boy Who Lived -- that’s you, Harry -- and the Greatest Mage -- you, Simon.”

He pauses, like he wants to see our reactions. I doubt he can read anything on Simon’s face, I barely can. But I can tell Simon doubts that he could be anyone that powerful or important. “What does that mean for us?” I ask.

The Mage paused for a moment before he said, “Well, it means that everybody wants you on their side. And it means that I have to train you well so you have the control to do what you must.” I like that he doesn’t talk to us like we can understand anything because we’re young. Adults do that a lot, and it’s really annoying.

“I have to figure out some paperwork before I can bring you to the school. I’ll be back in about two weeks, when term starts,” He says before he leaves. I’ve been stuck here a long time; I can wait two more weeks, especially if it means we get to learn magic.


	3. Magic School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first-years are arriving at Watford

####  **Simon**

Harry’s sitting on my bunk while I pace in front of it. It’s been a little over two weeks since that weird fire at our old care home, and we’re waiting for that man, the Mage, to take us away to magic school. If Harry hadn’t been there with me when he showed us magic, I might not believe it really happened. We’re both nervous -- Harry keeps pulling at his hair, and I can’t even sit down -- but our trunk is packed and ready to go for when the Mage comes. We’re sharing an old trunk because we don’t have enough things to use two. We both own only what the care home provides: one week’s worth of hand-me-down clothes, a toothbrush and hairbrush, and a plastic baggie with a few pencils and pens for school.

We’ve been in here waiting for about an hour and a half when one of the staff ladies comes in, scowing at us. “Simon Snow and Harry Potter?” she says. Harry looks at her and nods as I stop pacing. “Come with me. There’s a man here to take you to boarding school.”

Harry jumps up as she walks quickly out of the room, and I grab our trunk. It’s a bit heavy, but I can handle it. In the front reception area, the Mage is signing some papers, wearing the same storybook outfit he was when we first met him. I set the trunk down as we wait, shuffling impatiently. Harry’s nervous, I can see it on his face, so I flick my hand off my left arm toward him.  _ It’ll be fine _ .

The Mage turns to us after he hands the paperwork to the lady at the desk. “Hello, boys. Let’s get you to school, shall we?” he says, and takes us outside. While we’re walking to the bus station, he says, “So, boys. I think you should know that I have named Simon as my heir. It doesn’t mean anything, really; it’s just what had to be done to get you into the school.” I don’t really know what an heir is or why it matters, so I just nod. I don’t care about anything but going to magic school.

####  **Ron**

Most of my family are on the train that’s taking me to Watford. Dad has to work, and my oldest two brothers are out of the country, but Mum and my other siblings are here. Three of my older brothers are returning to school, and my little sister couldn’t be left home alone, so she’s come to see us off. I’m excited for my first year, but nervous too. The Greatest Mage and the Boy Who Lived are supposed to be in my year, and I don’t know how to feel about that. Mum says they didn’t grow up knowing about magic, so I should be nice to them. I can’t imagine ever not knowing about magic, because magic’s all I’ve ever known.

My brothers have told me a lot about the school, but I don’t know how much of it is true. Fred said there are monsters in the woods and in a big moat around the school, and they eat kids that are out past curfew. George said that I’ll have to take some kind of big test, and if I fail they’ll send me home. Percy said the twins are idiots and everything will be fine, but he’s a know-it-all and a goody-two-shoes, so of course, everything’s fine for  _ him _ at school.

After the train, we split into two taxi’s to go the rest of the way to the school. Percy, Fred and George go in the first car, while I get stuck with Mum and my little sister Ginny. I watch out the window as we get closer to the school. I see the outer wall of the school, with an iron gate over the road. The taxi stops in front of the gate, where my brothers are waiting for us, and I hop out quickly. I’ve been to the school before, dropping my older brothers off, but this is the first time I’m actually here as a student.

“Are you gonna open the gate, ickle Ronkins?” George asks. I look up at the gate, which has words etched into the iron: “Magic separates us from the world, let nothing separate us from each other.” To open the gate, it’ll have to sense my magic. I know I have magic, my whole family does, but the gate testing it still makes me nervous. I take a deep breath and push the gate open.

There are older students sitting in the sun on the grass, and I can see a forest and a football pitch in the distance. We walk across the grass, on a drawbridge over the moat, and past the inner wall of the school. 

In the courtyard, there are quite a few buildings. Mum insists on hugging my brothers before they go put their things in their dorms. Once they’re gone, she turns to me. “Now, we’re to take your things to the White Chapel. Oh, here, let me get that dirt off your face first.”

“Mum!” I say, trying to duck away. She’s luckily distracted by two boys about my age walking up to us.

“Um, excuse me,” the dark-haired boy says. He has bright green eyes that really stand out against his brown skin. The boy behind him has short blonde hair and blue eyes and freckles, and is leaning back a little as if he’s trying to keep his balance while carrying his trunk. “Did you say you're going to the White Chapel? We weren’t sure where it was.”

Mum smiles at the boys and says, “Of course, dears, you can come with us. It’s Ron here’s first year too.” I give a slight wave, then we all follow Mum into a big white building with a dome ceiling, right in the middle of the courtyard. There are other kids and their parents here, with a lot of trunks piled up along the wall. Once we’re there, Mum pulls me into a tight, embarrassing hug. “Now, I’ll see you at Christmas, Ron. Don’t forget to write.”

“So,” the dark-haired boy says once she’s gone.

I don’t really know anyone here, so I decide I may as well talk to these blokes. I stick out my hand and say, “I’m Ron Weasley.”

The blonde boy doesn’t react at all, but the dark-haired boy shakes my hand and says, “I’m Harry Potter, and this is Simon Snow.” 

I’m shocked. I knew that the Chosen Ones were going to be in my year, but to have met them both on the very first day. “Are - are you really?” I stutter, and Harry (Harry Potter!) nods. “Y-you’re - do you have - can I see - ?” I gesture to my forehead, where rumour says the Boy Who Lived has a scar from the Humdrum. Harry smiles and pushes his hair up, revealing white lines across his forehead that look like a lightning strike.

Simon huffs and scuffs his foot, his arms crossed. Harry looks at him and tugs on the front of his own shirt, before turning back to me and saying, “Sorry, Si’s doesn’t like big crowds. See you later?” I nod as Harry Potter and Simon Snow, the two most famous kids in the World of Mages, walk out of the Chapel, leaving me alone again. Well, I suppose I’d better start meeting new people, because I doubt the Chosen Ones will want to talk to some poor nobody like me again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!   
> I'd love it if you could leave a comment -- something you liked, something you didn't like, something that confused you, whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually post things I'm still working on, but this is not at all finished. I cannot guarantee that it will ever be finished, but I'm more likely to remember to work on it if it gets a good response. There also won't be a consistent update schedule. If you want me to keep going, maybe think about leaving a comment?
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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